The EIB will end financing for fossil fuel energy projects from the end of 2021. Future financing will accelerate clean energy innovation, energy efficiency and renewables. EIB Group financing will unlock EUR 1 trillion of climate action and environmental sustainable investment in the decade to 2030. EIB Group will align all financing activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement from the end of 2020. The board of the European Investment Bank (EIB) today agreed a new energy lending policy and confirmed the EIB’s increased ambition in climate action and environmental sustainability.

The new energy lending policy details five principles that will govern future EIB engagement in the energy sector: prioritising energy efficiency with a view to supporting the new EU target under the EU Energy Efficiency Directive; enabling energy decarbonisation through increased support for low or zero carbon technology, aiming to meet a 32% renewable energy share throughout the EU by 2030; increasing financing for decentralised energy production, innovative energy storage and e-mobility; ensuring grid investment essential for new, intermittent energy sources like wind and solar as well as strengthening cross-border interconnections; increasing the impact of investment to support energy transformation outside the EU.

Today’s decision ends an open and inclusive review process which involved industry, institutions, civil society, and the public at large. Intensive stakeholder engagement since January produced more than 149 written submissions from concerned organisations and individuals and petitions signed by more than 30,000 people. Over the last five years the European Investment Bank has provided more than EUR 65 billion of financing for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy distribution.